Swordsmen
by The Cactus
Summary: A tale of three swordsmen, and how trust and betrayal is inevitable.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shaman King.

**A/N: **Well… Imagine Hao killed Anna's parents and the cast are all swordsmen, okay? Effectively AU, but uh… oh well.

xxx

"…I trust… that you know… tomorrows mission… must… succeed…"

"I will not fail."

She turned around and he found himself unwillingly staring right into her eyes. He wanted to cower, wanted to tear himself away, but there was something… some perverse fascination within himself, that allowed him to stare unflinchingly back at her.

Her eyes were so… so… _cold._

He froze.

It wasn't difficult to make a pair of onyx eyes glitter with frost, but she took it to a whole different level completely. With the frost itself came penetration, and while he had been subject to penetrative stares before, courtesy of his brother; this was completely, and utterly, different. Instead of merely feeling naked under her look, not even a glare, he found his soul being ripped apart, as though it was being ransacked for… something.

Still, his heart was true, and he had nothing to fear, but still he was barely able to endure her scrutiny, until finally she turned back to gazing into the pond before them.

He felt his spirit reforming, even though it wasn't broken. He felt the coldness recede, even though the temperature hadn't changed.

"… I trust you."

Those three words meant much to him.

Almost instantly, he warmed a little. "Very well! I shall now to prepare for the mission tomorrow!"

He turned and ran back towards his room.

She merely looked at the pond before her, thinking that the fulfilment of her greatest dream… was finally about to come tomorrow.

xxx

They charged up to the palace, killing any soldiers in their way. With each swing of their swords, two or three men fell.

Thousands were felled as they slowly but steadily made their way to the entrance of the inner sanctum.

At the entrance, she gazed upon him again, but this time instead of the all-encompassing coldness that he had felt earlier, this time all he saw was how refined she was. Not for the first time did he feel glad that she had accepted him. She was truly a perfect person when compared to him, and he would gladly die for her cause.

"Go."

This time, instead of merely her usual cool tone, he could just barely, _barely _hear a hint of warmth in her voice.

That was enough.

He dashed into the inner sanctum, and as he turned back he saw her disappear, her part of the mission completed.

xxx

She stood next to her horse, waiting from him to arrive.

She couldn't help but think that, perhaps, she should have followed him in.

Soon enough, she could hear the sounds of a rapidly approaching horse, and she turned to face the direction that the sound was coming from. Even from the distance, she could see that it wasn't him. The long hair trailing behind the rider made it easy for her to know that it wasn't him.

As the horse approached, her features scrunched up in hatred as she finally realised _who _it was.

He came to a stop a safe distance from her, a distance at which he knew that her sword would be ineffective. He jumped off, and composed himself as he stared her in the eyes. This time, instead of one-sided domination by her, she found that her opponent's eyes were just as hard. It was a contest of wills.

Finally, he spoke. "He understood my purpose."

"You forced him."

"He was stronger than me."

"…"

She had known that, but… but it was inconceivable that he would join him… at the expense of her. Had her trust been… tossed away like it was nothing?

She didn't make any motion that would betray her feelings, but suddenly, his eyes lost their edge.

"I've realised that we don't… know each other."

"And we have had no need to."

"He has… changed me… so much so that… in fact, he is probably now the dominant part of me..."

"If he really was, why are you the one in control?"

"Like I said… he understood my purpose. He willingly relinquished his hold."

"You are known for deceit."

"And callousness."

"It could all be part of your deceit."

"…I see that there is probably nothing I can do to change your opinion."

"So what if he has changed you? If he really understood his 'purpose', all the killing, all the bloodshed, it all just going to continue, _isn't it?_"

"My purpose is… regrettably… above all."

"LIAR!"

"Do you really think that I'll be speaking to you like this," he gestured to his surroundings, "If I was still the same?"

"…"

Still, he turned away. The accusation was becoming too much for him to bear. She simply continued staring at him, this time with tears leaking out of her eyes. She could not have imagined him acknowledging that his purpose was above all. He must have been… forced.

Finally, after a few minutes of silence, his voice hardened, and he spoke.

"I see now that you did not know him well."

She thought back to the time that she had spent with him. She realised that he was speaking the truth, as she remembered the times where she had treated him as merely a tool. It wasn't until she had given him her trust that she had awakened to the fact that he was important to her. At the same time, she realised the source of her inexplicable tension over the last few days, when she had been waiting… waiting from him to return… to return to…

…her…

He continued.

"I see now that you did not know that he knew the importance of my purpose."

"IMPOSSIBLE! Just yesterday he pledged his allegiance to ME! I could… see his… truth."

"He was truthful to you, and he was prepared to go through with your wishes, but as we fought he looked… and saw the circumstances around. He knew that he could not kill me."

"Why?"

"For my purpose…"

Her expression hardened too, and she drew her blade. She was not going to tolerate this monster's lies any longer.

"Draw your blade."

"Has it real…"

"DRAW YOUR BLADE."

"He would not wish…"

"DRAW YOUR BLADE! HE WOULD WISH THAT I KILL YOU TO AVENGE HIM!"

He sighed, and drew his blade.

She dashed towards him, knowing that at her current distance her accuracy would be compromised. He waited.

She slashed at his neck, but he simply deflected her sword. She then tried to cut his shoulder, waist, and thigh in quick succession, but it was blocked as well. He then raised his blade and pushed against her sword, using just a bit of furyoku to send her flying back.

He pointed his sword at her as she landed. "You know that he had surpassed you. Surpassed even me."

Meanwhile, she was surprised that he had sent her back an exact distance. In fact, it was too obviously planned. _Could it be he… _Abandoning her thoughts, she raised her sword and blasted straight towards him. _He knew that this was the optimum distance for me to set up this attack…_

She fully expected him to block it, for he was one of the few people who could, but as she went within killing distance he lifted his blade and tossed it aside.

_WHAT IS HE DOING! It's too late…!_

She drove her sword right through his abdomen.

As they stood almost uncomfortably close to each other, she loosened her grip on the sword and stumbled back, but he managed to stay on his feet.

"Why…?"

"You know."

She stared at him, and for the very first time, she realised how similar they looked. He smiled, and his face looked unnervingly like his.

"You… know…"

He smiled at her again, before he coughed and slumped to his knees. Unmoving. She moved forward, her tears flowing freely now. She kneeled and cradled his head towards her.

"Yoh…"

xxx

**A/N: **Oh man, that was possibly the biggest piece of crap I wrote. Anyway tell me if you found the Hao and Yoh parts confusing.


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